1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an Ink Supply Tank for a Printer having wires supplied with ink at their distal end faces and movable against a sheet of print paper for transferring ink to the sheet in the form of dots to record a character, a figure, a graphic image or the like on the sheet, and more particularly to the construction of an ink tank and an ink guide for guiding ink from the ink tank to the distal end faces of the wires.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ink supply systems for a wire dot matrix printer are known in which no ink ribbon is used, but ink is supplied from an ink tank to the distal ends of the wire and transferred from the wires directly to a sheet of print paper. One known ink guide mechanism for such an ink supply system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,846 and comprises a porous member capable of absorbing ink and for guiding ink from an ink tank with wires contacting the porous member. The porous member contains fine holes with their sizes or diameters varying within a certain range, with the result that the ink absorbing capability varies from porous member to porous member, and excessive and insufficient quantities of ink tend to be supplied to the distal ends of the wire. The quantities of ink retained in the vicinity of the distal ends of the wires widely differ, and the porous member is liable to vary in dimensions or be deformed due to coaction with the sides of the wires. Therefore, the ink densities of formed dots are irregular.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,393 discloses another ink supply mechanism in which ink is supplied by a pump from an ink tank to the distal ends of wires. The disclosed ink supply mechanism is disadvantageous in that the construction of a joint between the pump and a printer head is complex and results in an increased cost. It is necessary to provide a sufficient seal so as to gain sufficient pump performance and a large-torque drive source is required for driving the pump. The ink supply mechanism is rendered particularly complex for a multicolor printer head, and such ink supply mechanism is not suitable for use with a small-size printer head.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an ink-supplied wire dot matrix printer head which overcomes these problems associated with the prior art.